Luke: Does Your Heart Need Healing

“How do You Pray?”

Luke 11:1-23

2-5-2023

Justin Scarberry

Message Notes

On a scale of 1-10, how effective would your prayer life be considering:

1. How often you pray?

2. How persistent you are with your prayers?

3. Do you patiently wait for God to answer?

Luke 11:1-23 NASB

It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, when He had finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, just as John also taught his disciples.” ² And He said to them, “When you pray, say:

‘Father, hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
3 Give us each day our daily bread.
4 And forgive us our sins,
For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation.’”

⁵ And He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves, ⁶ because a friend of mine has come to me from a journey and I have nothing to serve him’; ⁷ and from inside he answers and says, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ ⁸ I tell you, even if he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his shamelessness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

⁹ “So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks, it will be opened. ¹¹ Now which one of you fathers will his son ask for a fish, and instead of a fish, he will give him a snake? ¹² Or he will even ask for an egg, and his father will give him a scorpion? ¹³ So if you, despite being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?”

¹⁴ And He was casting out a mute demon; when the demon had gone out, the man who was previously unable to speak talked, and the crowds were amazed. ¹⁵ But some of them said, “He casts out the demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons.” ¹⁶ Others, to test Him, were demanding of Him a sign from heaven. ¹⁷ But He knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste; and a house divided against itself falls. ¹⁸ And if Satan also has been divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? For you claim that I cast out the demons by Beelzebul. ¹⁹ Yet if by Beelzebul I cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out the demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are secure. ²² But when someone stronger than he attacks him and overpowers him, that man takes away his armor on which he had relied and distributes his plunder. ²³ The one who is not with Me is against Me; and the one who does not gather with Me scatters.

God does not tell us to pray the exact same way every time!  It’s a personal conversation between you and God.

The best (and Biblical) way to start a prayer is to worship God!

Daily bread is so much more than what we eat.  Do you ask God for a little more Jesus every day?

Our complaints should go vertically to God and not horizontally to everyone around us:

Exodus 16:8 NASB

Moses said, “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord.”

All the troubles we face on earth are part of God’s divine plan.

Daily Bread

Our daily bread is a little more Jesus every day:

John 6:30-35 NASB

³⁰ So they said to Him, “What then are You doing as a sign, so that we may see, and believe You? What work are You performing?

³¹ Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.’”

³² Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven.”

³³ For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.” ³⁴ Then they said to Him, “Lord, always give us this bread.”

³⁵ Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; the one who comes to Me will not be hungry, and the one who believes in Me will never be thirsty.

Do you ask God for a little more Jesus every day?

God will give you as much Jesus as you will ask for:

Exodus 16:18 NASB

¹⁸ When they measured it by the omer, the one who had gathered much did not have too much, and the one who had gathered little did not have too little; everyone gathered as much as he would eat.

How much of Jesus are you asking for? How often are you eating of the bread of life?

Forgiveness and Revenge (Luke 11:4)

Forgiveness is something that is impossible to do on our own. We get tempted to even the score.  We want to get even and we are lead to sin by our vengeance against God’s Word:

Deuteronomy 32:35 NLT

³⁵ I will take revenge; I will pay them back.

    In due time their feet will slip.

Their day of disaster will arrive,

    and their destiny will overtake them.’

Forgiveness is not easy but for a child of God it is required!

Matthew 6:14-15 NASB

¹⁴ For if you forgive other people for their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵ But if you do not forgive other people, then your Father will not forgive your offenses.

Jesus’ parable on prayer (Luke 5-7)

Prayer is to get our will aligned with God’s will.  God’s will is that non shall perish without knowing him (2 Peter 3:9)

If you have been praying for someone to know and follow Jesus.  Keep praying!

Bottom Line

Keep praying for those who do not yet know Jesus,

do not give up!

 

1. How would you rate your prayer life?

   a. Was there a time in your life you feel that your prayer life was stronger than it is now?

   b. What are some of the things that may have changed since then?

2. Read Luke 11:1-5,

What is our daily bread?

How do we get it?

Is the supply limited or unlimited?

3. When we complain to others about circumstances in our life can that be considered a sin? Why or why not?

     a. Read Exodus 16:8

          What is grumbling?

          Are there times when grumbling is valid?

4. Have you ever doubted something that happened that seemed impossible was a miracle?

     a. Do Christians have doubts about things that God does?

     b. Should we have doubts?

     c. What are some ways the Bible tells us we can deal with doubts?

5. Read John 6:30-35,

     a. What is the Bread of Life?

     b. What does it mean that those who come to Jesus will not be hungry or thirsty?

6. Can you ever take in too much of God? Why or why not?

7. Is forgiveness required for salvation?

     a. Is forgiving others required for Christians?

     b. What are some ways we can take on God’s role when we seek revenge?

8. Does everyone we pray for to know Jesus eventually repent and follow Jesus?

     a. Is there a time when we should stop praying for others to know Jesus?

9. Read Luke 11:6-10

     a. Do we ever stop knocking?

     b. What are some of the reasons?

10. Read Luke 11:16-23

     a. What are some ways we can gather and some ways we can scatter?

Please pray for someone who God very specifically will put on your heart this week. Pray that God will show them His Son and will change their eternity. If you have been praying for someone continually, write it down in either a prayer journal or the margin of your Bible.  Keep on praying!